[Discuss] Sparking Beluaterra

[Nathan Olberding]

On 5/2/06, Anthony Anderson <phoenixsunrise at gmail.com> wrote:
> The bottom line on the whole issue is that mergers have been the most
> punishable offense (aside from multi/cheating) since the very
> beginning of the game.  I believe the first time it occurred was early
> on EC, and it resulted in the rulers getting lightning bolted.  A
> realm on FEI last year got completely wiped off the map for attempting
> it.
>
> Mergers, as Tom has stated, are almost always done for OOC reasons.
> It benefits the players, not the characters, and certainly not the
> peasantry.  Think of the reality of one country's government handing
> over the reigns, titles, money, and telling all their people that
> their new identity is something other than what was ingrained in them
> since birth.  It will never be taken well by the majority.
>
> Total surrender to an enemy is a completely different matter.  All of
> the things stated above are forced on you in order to guarantee
> survival.  It's not a willing changing of the guards at all.

I don't think it happens as infrequently as people think. Usually this
is done in a more "unifying" form as opposed to "homogenizing," so I
guess federations are the way to take care of this. But if the USA
were a federation in BM, would each state be its own realm, able to
select its own style of government, leadership, etc? I see similar
things in parts of the history of Georgia and Yugoslavia (obviously
not all parts of either's history, but some). Plenty of examples could
be pointed out.

Either way, I think that if you're going to make rules, enforce them
with game mechanics. Otherwise, you're just telling people how to have
fun.